A Comparative Analysis Between "The First Volume Of New Practical Chinese Reader" And "Hello,Cameroon"

Text books play a very important role in Teaching Chinese as a second language.According to some scholars,there is knowledge,wisdom,vitality,humanism and guidance in them.Sometimes,the content of a teaching material might influence the quality of the teaching,the learners’ level and reaction;it can also affect the result of the lesson.If the books can’t fit the requirements,it might affect the student’s results.《Hello,Cameroon》was published in 2015 by《AFRICA EDITION》.The book is designed for elementary learners of Chinese of any age and is currently used by many local teachers as a teaching material.《New Practical Chinese Reader》was published by Beijing Language and Culture university in collaboration with Hanban and is specially designed for elementary level students whose native language is English or who use English as a communication Language.It’s the most used among foreign learners.Both books,in many aspects have differences and similarities.The aim of this paper will be to analyze and compare them in order to bring out those points.The questionnaire was submitted to 14 teachers and 58 students:Regarding "New practical Chinese reader Text Book 1",the texts part,new words part,grammar part,exercises part,the pronunciation part and characters part are rational.Almost everyone is satisfied with those parts.The students also show a big interest for Chinese culture and willing to participate in cultural activities such as(calligraphy,paper cutting,taichi...).The majority of the teachers think that the topics have been very well chosen and the students themselves made a good evaluation of the book.When proceeding to our own evaluation of the book,we realized that some aspects don’t really fit the local teaching requirements therefore,the question of considering the country’s local realities when writing a book should be arisen.For instance,they can mention some communication exercises which are based on the realities of the local students.Finally,the Grammar points are very clear and detailed with concrete examples.Regarding "hello Cameroon",most of the teachers think that the choices of topics do reach the target but the content are insufficient.The explanations of the new words are very clear and understandable.Despite the fact that the words are few but the students made a good evaluation of the lessons and the book.The order of Grammar is rational and the grammar points are very clear.The exercises are complete:there are communication exercises,sentences arrangement exercises,fill in exercises,translation exercises,listening iv exercises etc.Teachers and students are satisfied with the cultural part of the book because the author first presents the culture of China and the culture of Cameroon and proceed to the comparison of both cultures.The teachers think the approach of using French to explain to the students the Chinese culture is helpful for them.